Ariel, collection of poetry by Sylvia Plath, published posthumously in 1965. Most of the poems were written during the last five months of the author’s life, which ended by suicide in 1963. With this volume she attained what amounted to cult status for her cool, unflinching portrayal of mental anguish. Although the poems range in subject from pastoral chores (“The Bee Meeting”) to medical trauma (“Tulips”), each contributes to an impression of the inevitability of the author’s self-destruction. The volume contains “Daddy,” one of Plath’s best-known poems.

poem by Sylvia Plath, published posthumously in 1965 in the collection Ariel. One of Plath’s most famous poems, “Daddy” was completed during a brief prolific period of writing before her suicide in February 1963. In images that progress from domestic to demonic, the poem confronts a woman’s conflicting feelings about her father’s death when she...